Taboola Completes SPAC Merger, Lands on the Public Market

Native ad giant Taboola has completed the reverse merger process. The stock has landed on the Nasdaq Exchange under the ticker symbol "TBLA." The Israel-based company used a SPAC to go public. The deal has propelled Taboola to a multi-billion dollar corporate valuation.

For Taboola, the game is just getting started. What can investors expect now that the company is public?

Taboola has gone public in partnership with blank-check firm ION Acquisition Corp. 1. Shareholders for the holding company voted at a 99 percent approval rating, which helped propel the Taboola deal forward.

The Taboola SPAC deal was set up to achieve $545 million in fundraising, including $285 million in PIPE (private investment in public equity).

With its stock on the market, Taboola has achieved a corporate valuation of about $2.6 billion. Taboola stock was trading at $10.79 by mid-morning on June 30 on opening data. The shares are already experiencing volatility, but that's to be expected with fledgling securities.

Taboola CEO Adam Singolda spoke on Squawk Box about his company's shift to the public market. He said, "It's a big market, $60 billion, growing 10–15 percent a year, but it's not personalized. It's still mostly banners."

He also said, "I think the future of the open web and the internet will be a beautiful feed of accommodations that are all personalized. It's a big market we're going after."

Recently, Facebook skirted through antitrust allegations and came out on the other side with a $1 trillion market cap. Facebook is one of Taboola's biggest competitors.

Singolda said, "In their fantasy world, Facebook would be 100 percent of the internet," but he's prepared to protect the open web.

Data privacy is becoming more important to the average internet user, which means regulation is bound to follow suit. Currently, states are implementing their own data privacy laws and Congress has been reviewing options for federal laws. Top competitors like Google are becoming more transparent about privacy.

When talking about privacy, Singolda says it's a good and important thing for the safety of people online. "Because we're an open web company, we don't buy inventory on the web. We work with the publishers. We're navigating the privacy dynamics really amazingly," he said. 

Taboola claims to be innately designed for a world without third-party cookies. If this is true, the newly public company is ready and eager for a privacy-enabled internet. If it's embellishment, TBLA stock could experience volatility in the wake of stricter privacy laws.

Retail investors gained access to TBLA stock within hours of the company hitting the market, which means it's available now. Prices are fluctuating quickly, but placing a limit order can prevent you from overpaying on your shares. Pick a target price for the limit based on the maximum amount you're willing to pay for TBLA stock.